About Us

Here you can find out about our mission statement, who we are, who our partners are and how you can get in touch.

Who are we?

Supporting Guasa is a charity registered in Sweden which works on projects in the Dominican Republic. Our primary goal is to promote development in the village of Ramón Santana. The different projects we implement in the village will depend on the donations made and resources available. Please see our projects page to see information on this year’s projects. Supporting Guasa is a non-profit organisation and all funds and donations go directly to making the projects work. We believe that no project can work without the help of the community and so we ensure our projects are managed with the help of locals

. Our projects are planned and carried out with local partnerssuch as the consejo, a community group. We aim to create projects that are sustainable, transparent and value for money. We are a small organisation with realistic concrete aims and we believe the money donated by our supporters should go as far as possible. We do not pay any wages, all work by our members, whatever their role, is based on voluntary contributions in Sweden, England, the United States and the Dominican Republic.

Mission statement

“The goal of our organization is to promote education in the community of Ramón Santana
and the surrounding areas, with a specific focus on English language acquisition, reading comprehension,
and the development of additional skills useful in the workforce. Our ultimate goal is the transfer of knowledge, skills,
and resources to the citizens of Ramón Santana that will enable them to be autonomous leaders of their own development”

Trustees of the board

Ricky Santana

President

Having grown up in Guasa, Ricky was inspired to begin Supporting Guasa having experienced the difficulties of life in his home village of Ramón Santana. He has been President since he was first elected in 2010. Ricky is responsible for stakeholder management andensuring that we meet our objectives as an organization in a way that is appropriate to the community.

Emelie Santana

Financial director

Emelie is also founding member of Supporting Guasa and has been an active board member and the organization’s treasurer since its creation in 2010. She has worked tirelessly and definitely knows how to put the ‘fun’ in fundraiser. Emelies’s responsibilities include:project development for girl’s project, fundraising, volunteer recruitment and financial management and liaison.

Siân Sinnott

Secretary and Director of Projects

Siân has worked with the organisation since the beginning and went to Guasa as a volunteer teacher in the summers of 2010 and 2011. She has been the organisation’s secretary and a trustee since 2011 and plays a role in most things ‘Guasa’. Siân is responsible for website content, project development, organisation vision and development, fundraising and volunteer recruitment and liaison.

Bethany Mason

Director - Volunteer and Community Liaison

Bethany started in the organization in summer 2013 as a volunteer teacher and carried on until the spring of 2013. She was elected to the board in 2014 and has shown herself to be extremely dedicated trustee of Supporting Guasa. Bethany is responsible for stakeholder management, project development, fundraising and volunteer recruitment and liaison.

We are a grassroots NGO working in a Dominican village and its municipality. Our work primarily focuses on sustainable education and gender relations.